Da Caribbean News Ledda
Happy New Year Everyone!
Here we go again, once again face to face with a new year of hopes and dreams.
Last year was a good one so lets hope that 2004 will be even better than the
last.
This year
Lionheart spent New Years Eve at Trellis bay along side what seemed like millions
of other boats. Thousands of people were there celebrating the end of year
amongst the local bars and restaurants tuning in to the local reggae heard
all over the bay. Aragon lit his ball of fire, (for those who aren't familiar
with the full moon parties at trellis) this ball is an old steel mooring buoy
about 4ft round that Aragon, the local artist has cut designs of people and
crazy shapes into. Each month they fill the ball with timber and set it alight.
Quite an amazing site. People come from all over to see this marvel. In addition
to this, We witnessed the biggest fire works display in all of the BVI. There
were rockets being shot in all sorts of directions, high above the boats moored
below.
The next day Lionheart
and it's 9 Californian party animals headed west towards Jost Van Dyke. We
eventually made our way to Foxy's where the previous night was supposed to
be the biggest night of the year for the Fox. It would seem that this year
people are choosing to stay away from the more populated venues, consequently
Foxy's was relatively quiet.
During the few days leading up to New Years the islands was savaged by heavy
winds which caused a lot of damage to boats. One boat from Conch Charters
was flung high onto the rocks at the baths after breaking the mooring line.
This was the second boat in three weeks to have this happen. We also lost
two Mooring boats who ran into each while both were on Auto pilot but without
a lookout. OOOppps!
Lionheart now has a new home at Village Cay. A lovely floating dock beside
the restaurant in nice clean water. YEEEEHHAAA. It is so nice to be on a dock
that is managed by truly professional people. Everything is clean, the staff
are friendly and everything on the dock works. We are close to the larger
supermarkets and banks. We have access to the Village Cay pool, there is laundry
facilities, accommodation and some really neat eateries. To be honest I believe
Lionheart to be in a far more attractive position.
On the home front, for those of you who don't know, we have finally got our
chicken chaser. On the Thanksgiving holiday one of the local Rasta guys drove
up our driveway and said here's a dog. Now everyone knows that we were looking
for a dog for a long time but never really found the right one. Well this
little pup was too much. He was about five weeks old, white except for a sandy
discolouration to his ears and back. I said before this that my next dog would
be called Shadow, so this little guy got the name White Shadow. When he arrived
I could pick him up in one hand and Lucie could carry him around. Now at 9
weeks he's getting heavy and big enough to carry Lucie around. The way Shadow
is developing he is looking more like a Labrador each day.
Sarah is still working from home and enjoying it. It seems that the workload
has dropped off a bit but I think that is a good thing. I don't want to be
rich, I want to be happy. I have a nicely spaced out year so far with a little
hectic time in February, so I'm looking forward to the season. So far, the
charters have been fantastic even though we have faced some ordinary weather.
So I hope that the up and coming charters are as half as good.
The surfing boat Indies Trader is still in these waters searching for waves
and reporting on the local reefs. So far there has only been a few small waves
about so the guys onboard must be getting bored. The last swell that hit was
a great one with almost a week of waves but the Indies Trader was nowhere
to be seen. Too bad - more waves for us.
As I look over the screen of this computer I see waves starting to break around
the point. I better get out there before the rest of the guys show up.
Once again everyone, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Take care of one another.
Mobbsie